The Lumineers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uoCPHwPtZM&feature=related

:)

Searching for a job is rather challenging. You need to have some idea of what you want to do, where you would like to live (and work as well) and then you need to figure out how to find the jobs that fulfill these requirements. I feel fortunate to know what I want to do. I would like to be an Investment Analyst for a Commercial Real Estate owner/developer/investor. Essentially I want to be working with the people who make decisions for what to buy/sell and/or are responsible for making the managing decisions for a portfolio of properties. As far as location goes I'm pretty open (and becoming more so by the day) but I also have clear preferences like Denver, Chicago and Minneapolis. I thought I was one of the fortune was to at least know what I would like to be doing and actually have some experience/background to stand on. But when you are unemployed for this long (almost 4 months) you begin to wonder.... about lots of things, excess amounts of "free time" really lends itself to wondering. But especially about working and the future. I'm pretty sure I always spend plenty of time thinking about the future but I bet I spend even more now. I find it somewhat curious that I spend more time thinking about the future when I am essentially unable to plan for the future. I'm currently able to plan 1-2 weeks out. HA HA... Man that really just sounds pretty horrible AND in that sense it is pretty horrible. Oh.. shoot. Can this please be over soon?!? Sometimes I consider giving up (temporarily) on the career job search and moving to Colorado, out to the mountains and getting a service type job to get by... Ah! Spending an entire winter living out on the slopes seems like it would be pretty good. Maybe. At least I will be heading back to Chicago next week for an interview. Hopefully that goes well or the company I have been in contact with and had 2 phone and 2 interviews with since the end of June will finally make a decision. A few things I am thankful for in the meantime. Living in the same city as my sister and brother-in-law. Extra time with them has been a nice bonus. Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Maybe a little fruity but I am pretty sure that might be my favorite drink period. Also one of the most "seasonal" drinks. Right up there with Egg Nogg. Fall... Great weather. Potential adventures. (I'm planning to go camping up at Lake Superior this weekend!!) Fantasy football. Lots of fun and one of the things me and my brother-in-law spend tons of time talking about. New Running Shoes. I'm trying to use some of my extra time to get into running. Such an incredible sport of discipline and patience. It has been difficult but I believe the rewards of becoming a "runner" are well worth it. Flannel shirts.

The necessity of work

“Those three things - autonomy, complexity, and a connection between effort and reward - are, most people will agree, the three qualities that work has to have if it is to be satisfying.” Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers Being unemployed for nearly 4 months, that sounds like a long time, has given me opportunity to think about the value of work. Since I haven't had any, HA! Recently I have been helping my parents with some projects around the house. Which have included painting. Honestly I was not very excited about the prospect of helping out with these projects when I was first informed. But since I have been helping out it has be interesting to notice the impact that taking part in some meaningful work can affect my outlook on life or mood. I enjoy doing work that has a high connection between effort and reward like mowing. When you finish mowing you are able to clearly see the product of your labor. Painting also has a very high connection between effort and reward which has been very nice for me since I feel a need to do productive things each day. When job hunting I feel like I spend so much time and effort without a clear reward. I can spend an entire week searching for positions and applying online without ever getting contacted for a single position. I believe that is a major part of what makes the job search such a difficult thing. I also believe the connection between effort and reward was one of the things that made my second internship so difficult. There seemed to be a low connection between effort and reward. Which I think is what made it difficult to stay focused, that and the fact that I was constantly trying to figure out what was next in terms of my future job and city. Last night I was sitting out on my parent's back porch sharing a few beers and consequently thoughts with one of my best friends, I believe he is in fact my longest friend (since I have known him as long as I can remember), Matt Stephenson. He was detailing how challenging his work was because of weight of going into the office and sitting at a computer from eight to five everyday. I can say that I still remember the exact challenge he was speaking of. We tried to figure out if there is a better alternative or if were we just romanticizing something different. Is there connection between effort and reward predetermined by the work that we do or can we work to discover or expose the connection in a more obvious way? Should the work we are looking for have more to do with the quote at the begging of this post or the relation it has to our financial well being? Maybe it is both.

Summer 2012 #2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvCBSSwgtg4 I heard this song this last week and within 30 seconds of it playing on pandora I went over to see who it was because I knew I really liked it. I love when you are listening to a song for the first time and you just know that you really like it. My one complaint with this song is that it is about a minute short. They really needed to add a few more lines to make it a longer song. Anyways, enjoy!

Attitude

"Your attitude about who you are and what you have is a very little thing that makes a very big difference." -Theodore Roosevelt

Some Nights

For the past 3-4 years I have had 1-3 "Songs of the summer" This is #1 for summer 2012

Giving

Last night I was fortunate to get together with Chuck. I met Chuck through the ESL program I helped out with this past year. He and his wife ran the program I helped out with. Getting to know Chuck and Sue over the past year has been a blessing. They invited our group of 6-10 leaders over to their house for a meal, which I made sure to never miss since they are AMAZING hosts, almost monthly. The passion for people and desire to "not go quietly into the night" are two of the things I enjoy most about those two. Chuck and Sue are in their 60's and have run a small construction company together for years. They seem to be pretty well off and unlike most of their generational counter parts they choose not to spend all of their evenings closed off in their home or just hanging out with their friends. They put a lot of time and effort into running a once a week evening ESL class for refuges who are not able to make the day-time classes offered buy the Lutheran Services organization. Anyways Chuck and I had talked about getting together for coffee for a few months now and until last night had been unable to work it out. So last night we spent a few hours in conversation and one of the things we started talking about was giving. It started with Chuck telling me a story... He said one time a few years back he decided it was time upgrade his mower even though his current one was still working. So he asked one of his employees if he would like his mower, his employee said sure. A few weeks later he was with two of his employees and one brought up to the other that he still owed him fifty dollars. Chuck asked why, the one employee said he sold the mower Chuck gave him to the other employee. My first reaction was a thought about the parable of the unforgiving servant. Then Chuck made sort of a can-you-believe look and then said something to the effect of so I said to the employee "you can't sell that mower, I gave it to you". The employee quickly retorted "Yes I can, you GAVE it to me. So I can do whatever I want with it". I continued to think about the parable and was thinking that it was a pretty crappy thing to do. Then surprisingly he started defending the employee. He said the employee was right. Chuck gave it to him and if he was honest their shouldn't be any considerations attached. Which got me thinking about the attitude we give with and then Chuck said "We are called to give to the church freely, we are not called to direct". Basically when we give with an attitude of concern for how wisely our donation is being used or what it is going towards we are trying to put considerations on our giving or direct our giving. This is something I have been specifically challenged with in regards to support specific ministry staff on a monthly basis and finding myself thinking "Wait a second, when they are going on that vacation or buying xyz.... that is nicer/better/cooler than whatever I have. Should I be supporting them?" Thought this was a good challenge for my attitude in giving.